California County Bans SmartMeter Installations

kiwimate writes "Marin County in California has passed an ordinance (PDF) banning the installation of smart meters in unincorporated Marin. Among the reasons given are privacy concerns associated with measuring energy usage data moment by moment and the potential for adverse impact on emergency communication systems used by first responders and amateur radio operators. The ordinance also comments that 'the SmartMeters program ... could well actually increase total electricity consumption and therefore the carbon footprint,' citing 'some engineers and energy conservation experts.'" The ordinance also mentions "significant health questions" raised about "increased electromagnetic frequently radiation (EMF) emitted by the wireless technology in SmartMeters."

Comments

Grow Ops in Marin?

[spun]

Could be the real reason for those privacy concerns, and more power to them.

Re:Grow Ops in Marin?

[eleuthero]

When there is technology to eliminate wasteful use of human and other resources, I have a huge problem with that. Does it mean that those who have been doing meter-reading will have to find other lines of work? Yes. There are tons of other low-training labor opportunities--it doesn't require much training to be able to drive a car and write down a number for each house you drive by. A company should not be forced to support hundreds of workers it doesn't need just because the government wants to protect jobs (thereby diminishing, at least on one level, the dole). Allowing a company to increase efficiency allows it to provide a better service to the people at a lower cost.

With all this said, there are a number of other issues with the electronic metering systems that are being installed (they tend to be more accurate in favor of the company for one, but again--they really ought to have the option of providing for their stockholders in an appropriate efficient manner)...

Re:Grow Ops in Marin?

[hoggoth]

Who do you work for, Spun?
My guess: the city or the federal gov't. Perhaps a union job at a Fortune-500.

I work very long and hard for my money and I am surrounded by people in union jobs who lean on a broom from 9-5.
Explain to me how my eyes have been affected by propaganda.

Re:Grow Ops in Marin?

[icebike]

I too have a big problem with unions Luddites holding back progress just to keep another dues payer in a pointless job filling the union coffers with additional bribe money.

Radiation fear mongers are the same ones that want to shut down your wifi. The meter is on the outside of the house, any radiation they produce is no more than your neighbors wifi, which is on 24/7.

Privacy concerns are probably the only real basis for objection because anything broadcasting a signal can probably be intercepted, or demanded from the power company, with or without a subpoena, where as a cop sneaking on to your property daily to read your meter is too costly and would require a warrant.

Other than police trying to sniff out those running a grow-op in their basement, its not too clear to me why anyone would want this information.

Re:Grow Ops in Marin?

[PopeRatzo]

When there is technology to eliminate wasteful use of human and other resources

Seeing jobs for people as a "wasteful use of human resources" is one of the symptoms of why the rise of transnational corporations is destroying so many societies. Why is the corporate profit motive never questioned, but the motive to provide for one's family and oneself is discounted?

What do you say we don't start thinking in those terms until we've gotten to the point where everyone has sufficient food, shelter, clothing and education?

A company should not be forced to support hundreds of workers it doesn't need

Why not? If a company is going to profit from operating within a society, why shouldn't it be expected to support that society? If a company registers a patent in the US, then places it in a subsidiary in Holland, then a subsidiary in Ireland, and then back to Holland, finally licensing it back to itself to the US subsidiary in order to avoid paying taxes in the country that it sells the product, why shouldn't it be "forced" to contribute to the well-being of the people who comprise that market?

I think we underestimate the danger of believing that profit without responsibility is OK. More than thirty percent of the wealth of the bottom 75% of Americans just evaporated from 2000 to 2008 during a time when the largest corporations profits grew. Can you figure out where that trend heads?

Re:Grow Ops in Marin?

[icebike]

[citation needed]

The fact that people with smart meters continue to get TV, FM Radio, short wave, police and ambulance radios, and garage doors open just fine, with no interference and no problems would SEEM TO SUGGEST you have no clue about what you are speaking.

Re:Grow Ops in Marin?

[StopKoolaidPoliticsT]

Seeing jobs for people as a "wasteful use of human resources" is one of the symptoms of why the rise of transnational corporations is destroying so many societies. Why is the corporate profit motive never questioned, but the motive to provide for one's family and oneself is discounted?

Wait, so now we have a duty to prop up businesses that don't have a profitable setup? How dare we fire the buggy whip makers just because new technology came along? Won't someone think of the workers? What? They got jobs putting engines together? We all know todays workers can never be trained to do a new job, how dare you take away their sole means of supporting themselves?

What do you say we don't start thinking in those terms until we've gotten to the point where everyone has sufficient food, shelter, clothing and education?

Good luck with that... it's been tried many different ways and has never been sustainable.

Re:Grow Ops in Marin?

[Late Adopter]

Seeing jobs for people as a "wasteful use of human resources" is one of the symptoms of why the rise of transnational corporations is destroying so many societies. Why is the corporate profit motive never questioned, but the motive to provide for one's family and oneself is discounted?

On Slashdot? Because we're well versed in the Broken Window Fallacy. Not so much when it comes to economics more generally, unfortunately.

Also you're begging the question.

Re:Grow Ops in Marin?

[fridaynightsmoke]

Within the last 40 years, nearly all the gains in productivity have gone to the top 1%. The middle class has barely broken even. The poor have gotten poorer. I doubt the top 1% are actually responsible for those productivity gains, in fact I'm pretty sure the rest of us did the lion's share of the work. But we got shafted instead of getting rich, with a tiny minority harvesting all the fruits of our labors.

I'm sorry, but BULL-SHIT. The poor and middle classes are substantially, if not massively materially richer than 40 or even 20 years ago. Average incomes are much higher, people generally eat better food, have many more material posessions, live longer, etc etc; so much that one of the 'main health problems' today is that 'poor people are too fat'.

Re:Grow Ops in Marin?

[reboot246]

Actually, meter readers working in pairs is not a bad idea in some neighborhoods. One can cover the other while he's walking around behind the house.

I'm not union, but I am in favor of keeping meter readers. They are the eyes, ears, and noses of the utility departments, especially water and gas. With so many systems going to radio-read meters nowadays, nobody looks at the meter on a regular basis.
<shock>Did you know that customers sometimes steal service?</shock>

Re:Grow Ops in Marin?

[Facegarden]

Within the last 40 years, nearly all the gains in productivity have gone to the top 1%. The middle class has barely broken even. The poor have gotten poorer. I doubt the top 1% are actually responsible for those productivity gains, in fact I'm pretty sure the rest of us did the lion's share of the work. But we got shafted instead of getting rich, with a tiny minority harvesting all the fruits of our labors.

He says from his AMAZING magical box that lets him talk to anyone in the world instantly, and get nearly any entertainment or media content for FREE, as well as free access to the worlds largest encyclopedia, entire free lectures from Stanford etc, and just about any other information you could possibly ever need.

Yes, the low and middle class are certainly worse off than they were 40 years ago.
-Taylor

Re:Grow Ops in Marin?

[jwhitener]

The middle class have more "things" to keep them happy, sure. But it generally requires two people working full time to have that home, car or 2, and all the comforts that we believe we need (cable tv, etc..). In 1950, it was 1 full time worker for that home, car, etc..

But I would guess that the post you replied to is mostly looking at income inequality.
Graph of income

1970 until now, the middle class really hasn't had a pay increase, when adjusted by inflation. The middle has stayed middle, (or slightly gone below historic middle depending on how you view the data). The rich, on the other hand, have gotten progressively more rich in comparison.

Wealth really is concentrating at the top. Just because you have enough gadgets to keep you happy doesn't necessarily mean you are receiving a fair slice of societies pie.

It is pretty interesting looking at income inequality and economic depressions. Look how similar income distribution was right before the great depression and right before our current depression historic graph

900Mhz != HF amateur band

[epyT-R]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_meter

I'm not claiming this wiki article is complete, but the amateur HF bands are far far away from 900Mhz. I could understand a complaint if the switching supply in the meters (that drives the embedded logic) spewed harmonic RFI and/or dumped noise on the line due to a bad (cheap) design. I think electronic dimmers, radio driven electric fences, and existing broadband-over-power solutions are much bigger threats to HF bands than the circuits in these things.